Finance is one of the main critical issues for the development of a low carbon society especially during times of economic recession. Closing this green investment gap will require policy intervention. This paper is part of a larger research project – the ALPI project – which aims at analysing and designing relevant instruments to accelerate the transition towards a low carbon society. As a showcase of emerging technologies in Belgium, the Hasselt University, the University of Liège and the Geological Survey of Belgium are investigating the regional potential for geothermal electricity production. Deep geothermal energy appears to be currently on the edge of a take-off. But the actual emergence of this technology is subject to developments in legislation and incentives from regional governments. Different risk/return expectations across stages of the investment continuum exist and the financial structures that are employed at each stage may require different types of public support. Considering the particularities of the development of geothermal energy in Belgium, we present different combinations of incentives to support geothermal energy, and we review different sector evolutions through a broad stakeholder consultation (policy makers, sector federations, industry, researchers, banking sector, investors, etc.). However, a reviewof the learning effects shows that neither of the two combinations can prevent a regional monopolisation of the underground as a natural resource either by a private first-mover, or a public investor. Therefore, intermediary solutions are proposed to providea balance between the two extremes, and to ensure an improved sector growth and a continuous open market. Keywords: Technological innovation, Policy instruments, Competition, Combination of policies
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The study presented in this contribution is part of a new multidisciplinary research program undertaken by the “Service Public de Wallonie” since 2011 on archaeological sites uncovered in the Walloon region (SE Belgium). Indeed, very few archaeoenvironmental studies have been done in this area, especially in archaeobotany, and none of them was employed in combination. Up to now, most of the studies have been concentrated on the Neolithic period which is thus the best documented so far. In this context, we analysed pollen and NPPs from two Neolithic sites of primary importance for the understanding of the first sedentary occupations and/or their specific activities. Our data represent the first NPPs records in Wallonia. The first site (Fehxe-le-Haut-Cloché) is an Early Neolithic village (Belgian LBK) situated on the Belgian High Speed Train path Brussels-Liege. It is characterized by outlying houses which are older than the rest of the village’s houses located within an enclosure. Pottery style, techno-functional aspects of flint-tools and AMS C14 dating attest that these isolated houses may be considered as pioneer installations. Pollen and NPPs analyses are based on 35 samples coming from 18 pits and ditches linked to 8 houses belonging to both pioneer and secondary phases. The second site (Spiennes), located in the outskirts of Mons, is well known for its Middle-Late Neolithic flint mines which are listed on the UNESCO World heritage Sites since 2000. The men who started to dig mines in Spiennes had just discovered a profuse deposit of quality, which was to be exploited for more than 1 800 years. In total, around one hundred hectares were to be exploited and thousands of shafts were to be bored. Pollen and NPPs samples (48) have been retrieved from exploited flint layers, extraction shafts infillings and flint knapping workshops of 12 structures scattered on 3 different parcels of the exploitation.
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